Republicans in the House Appropriations Committee today released a list of 70 proposed cuts to the federal budget this year that would have a drastic and harmful impact on future clean energy innovation and investment.
While perhaps a wonky and esoteric entity to the person whose life doesn't revolve around federal budgets (i.e. 99.9999% of America), the House Appropriations Committee plays an outsized role in determining government spending amounts for the coming fiscal year. Unfortunately, as detailed below, this year the new Republican leadership has proposed cuts that would be especially damaging to our new, growing green economy and national security.
Essentially:
$2.1 billion dollars would be cut from energy and science programs at the Department of Energy, representing a 20% cut.
Efficiency and renewable energy technology programs would be the most damaged, taking a massive 35% hit in this proposed budget
Fossil fuels would only be cut half that amount, at 17%; nuclear programs would also be cut 17% .
Office of Science, one of the most important elements of our entire domestic innovation structure, would lose nearly a billion dollars in funding (18%) at a time we can least afford to cut investment in our future.
Another key program, the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, which manages the reliability, efficiency and security of our electricity grid (as well as new smart grid technologies) would lose a fifth of its budget.
